Keith has what?
by Katy Parks
Summary: The team discovers Keith has a rare disorder called Dissociative Identity Disorder.
1. Chapter 1

**Lance**

Voltron came with many challenges, one of them being the mind meld. It's hard to let strangers into your head. Personally I have no trouble with it, I've been an open book all my life. However, I know it's hard for others and I like to respect their privacy. Apparently the Alteans don't think the same way. The first time we did the activity didn't go so well.

It was right after we formed Voltron for the first time but couldn't do it again. Coran said that it would help and we all trusted him. I guess he did tell us it would help with becoming one and used a bunch of Altean words that made no sense. Hardly an explanation at all.

The helmet bans hummed as they started to work their magic. At first I couldn't tell what was happening, but then the voices came. It was almost as if someone was in my head with me. I could hear the others talking in my head. There was Pidge, Hunk, and Shiro all thinking things along the lines of: _what's going on how can I hear the others? _Keith, however, was thinking, "_There is no way we just got four new Alters." _

In reply there was an unfamiliar female voice, "_Keith, that's not coming from us. _Yet another shouted_, "That's the other paladins!" _

Then another male voice shouted, "_Take the helmet off! It's not safe!"_

Immediately Keith threw off the headset shouting, "What the fuck did that thing do?!"

Shiro jumped up and ran to him before anyone one could get a word in. "Keith?! Are you okay?"

Keith waved him off, "Just a really bad headache."

"We're done with this." Shiro demanded as he helped Keith to his room. The rest of us were left wondering what just happened.

In morning Keith came to the breakfast table with wearing his red paladin robe, slippers, and a pip in his step. He cheerfully sat down next to me, smiling. Keith, smiling. Needless to say we were all looking at him as if he had grown a second head.

He looked up from his food, finally noticing all our staring. "What?" He asked with a smile pulling on his lips. We stared at him for awhile longer, in which Keith's smile just kept growing. Finally Shiro decided to break the silence.

"Can I talk to you alone for a second?" He asked Keith.

Keith rolled his eyes, "Relax Shiro, we talked it over and agreed we better tell everyone. We decided that it's kinda important information to know and that with the whole mind meld thing Voltron does, there's no point in hiding it." Keith then looked off, as if preoccupied. "We want everyone to find out on our terms." Shiro nodded, relaxing back into his seat.

I looked around to see everyone as confused as me. Someone had to ask and I guess that someone was me. "What the quiznack you guys talking about? What's going on?"

Keith gigged, fist pumping the air. "Yes! I knew you'd be the first to crack. Keith thought it would be Hunk or Pidge, but I knew it."

"What do you mean Keith thought? Your Keith." Hunk asked hesitantly.

Not-Keith gave a sympathetic smile, "My name's Kate. It's nice to finally officially meet all of you."

"I'm still confused." I said.

Kate? Bit her lip. "Keith has Dissociative Identity Disorder or formerly known as Multiple Identity Disorder. The short version is that there are multiple people called alters, living in this one body. We have different names, genders, ages, races, sexualities, likes, and dislikes. The long version is too sciencey and boring for me to explain so you can wait for Keith or Adam to hear it."

"So your not Keith?" Allura asked.

Kate giggled again, "Do you think Keith would ever wear this out of the room if he had the choice?"

I shrugged, "He might."

"Yeah right, over his dead body." Kate laughed.

"So should we introduce ourselves?" Hunk asked.

"That's sweet of you to ask but it's not necessary for me. I was watching and even came out for a little when we meet you all, so I know all of your names."

"Excuse me," Coran asked. "but I'm unsure how this works. Is it like Voltron? Do you all control part of the body?"

"I wouldn't know but…." Kate looked off for a moment, "Keith says kinda. Like the mind connection thing is similar, but not exactly the same. Also only one person controls the body at a time. You could look at it like piloting the lions. The person your talking to (me) is the one piloting. The people in the cockpit are aware of what's going on and I can talk to. The people in the back of the lion are the alters that aren't aware of anything going on and are in the inner world. Does that make sense?"

Everyone nodded and Pidge asked, "So you guys switch who's in control? How do you decide when it's another's turn?"

"We don't get to choose who's in control. That's why I'm telling you and not Keith. I just happened to be the one to wake up in the body."

"Is Keith near the front at least?" Shiro asked.

Kate seemed to think about it, "Um, he was but… Adam says he went to help with the Littles. They missed him."

"Littles?" I asked.

Kate smiled a nodded, "They're child Alters. Which is one of the reasons you guys need to know about our DID. If a Little comes out they are going to act like a _child_. You'll need to treat them like you would any other child." She looked us all in the eye. "Look, I know we haven't been in space long but Keith seems to trust you all with his life, so we're trusting you guys. Promise us, you'll take care of the Littles when they're out." Instantly everyone answered in assurance.

"We promise."

"Of course."

"You have my word."

"You can count on us, number 4.1,"

"Dude, did you really even have to ask."

"We'll watch them, Kate."

She smiled, "Thanks guys, you have no idea how much that means to us."

We were all quiet until Hunk thought of an important question. "Wait can all the alters pilot Red?"

Kate bit her lip, "Yeah, so that's another reason why this is such important information to know. We don't know. Not everyone has tried. So far Keith's the only one who's been out when we need Voltron."

"So we could be in need of Voltron and not have a red paladin?" Allura clarified.

Kate guilty nodded.

"How helpful." Allura said sarcastically.

"Wait, have you guys been out before today? Like at all yesterday?" I asked.

"We actually switched a few times. You just didn't notice because alters are really good at pretending to be Keith."

"Really? How many times?"

"Um," Kate looked up in thought. "It's kinda hard to keep track but I think at least four different alters came out, including me. "

"What?! And we didn't notice! We're horrible friends!" I shouted feeling awful.

Kate giggles, "Relax Lance, your not suppose to know. Plus we've only been friends for three weeks; you wouldn't know what hints to look for."

"Keith is also more of an observer so really all alters would have to do would be quiet and watch." Pidge explained.

Kate nodded, "Exactly, no need to be upset."

Shiro stepped up to Kate and put his hand on her shoulder, "I'm proud of you guys. It was very brave of you all to come out like this to everyone."

Kate blushed, "Thanks Shiro. We knew you wouldn't let anything bad happen so it wasn't that hard."

"Still, it took a lot of courage." He gave her shoulder a squeeze. "I think this will be good for you guys. You'll finally have more people to be yourself with, which will be healthy for you."


	2. Chapter 2

"So how does one develop DID? Or are you born with it?" I asked Keith.

We were currently taking a break after a Lance vs Keith training session by sitting on the floor drinking juice packs like toddlers. As always I had to call the break because Keith was a freaking machine that didn't register pain or exhaustion.

Keith took a deep breath, "You have to develop it. And it has to be when your a kid.. Adults can't develop DID."

Honestly I was surprised Keith answered. Normally he's really closed off but ever since that reveal he seemed to be trying to be more open to everyone. Which I couldn't really complain, I liked hangout with Keith when he wasn't afraid of people finding out and instead was just himself. Well until he switched to someone else.

"Oh, well how do you develop it?"

"Not by anything good, that's for sure." Keith mumbles.

"What?"

"You don't want to know."

"Well now I want to know even more."

Keith took a deep breath, "Look Lance, a child develops DID from trauma, abuse and neglect. Multiple people were needed to handle all the trauma. We all remember different trauma that way it's not all left on one person."

I could only stare at him in shock. That had not been what I was expecting to hear. I don't know what I was expecting to hear but it wasn't that. Those poor children they got this disorder because they had a shitty life. Then it sunk in. If DID is caused from those awful things and Keith has DID, then that means…. all those awful things happened to Keith! Immediately I grabbed the poor soul into my arms, trying to convey all my love and appreciation for him to make up for all that had happened.

"Oh Keith, I had no idea. I'm so sorry."

Keith was still in shock, back rim rod straight. At my words and gentle back rubs he finally untensed and gave my back a pat. It was a small gesture but I knew to Keith it was big. The dude barley ever touched anyone.

"It's okay." He said. "I'm hardly the one who suffered from it. If anything I'm one of the better off Alters."

I hugged him tighter. "Just because you didn't have the worst things happen to you doesn't mean your not allowed to hurt too. Those things hurt people your close with and I know from experience that's like getting hurt yourself. And that's okay. You're allowed to feel hurt for them and your allowed to be hurt even if people say it's not as bad as someone else's because you can't compare pain. Your pain can be just as bad as someone else even if they were caused by different things."

At that Keith gave in to an actual hug squeezing me tightly. "Thank you, Lance. I think I needed to hear that."

"I'm always here if you ever want to talk. If any of you guys need to talk. Anytime you need, I don't care if it's in the middle of the night. I'll always listen, I promise."

"You don't have to do that, Lance."

"No, but I want to, Keith. I don't want you to think I'm just doing this because I feel bad. The offer was there before I learned about you having DID. Your my friend and I care about you."

Keith looked up at me with soft eyes, "I might just take you up on that, sharpshooter."


	3. Chapter 3

Shiro was late for dinner. That never happened, Shiro made it a point to have dinner together as a team. Keith was also missing but someone always had to get him. At first we thought Shiro had gone to get Keith but after 30 minutes of waiting we got worried. I figured I'd go check on them, deciding to get Shiro first since his room is closer than the training room, which was the most likely place to find Keith. When I got to his door I knocked once and came in like I always do. When the door opened it revealed a scene I never thought I would see. Keith was on top of Shiro with a leg on each side of his lap, grinding their groins together and making out on the bed rather passionately if the moans were anything to go by. Keith's fingers ran through Shrio's hair while Shiro's hands roamed underneath Keith's shirt, up and down his sides and back.

Unfortunately Keith and Shiro didn't seem to notice me, only continuing to get more passionate. Keith seemed to only have eyes for Shiro if shoving his tongue down Shiro's throat had anything to say. Honestly though, who didn't have eyes for Shiro? The guy is built like a greek god.

I awkwardly cleared my throat, apparently not loud enough since they didn't respond. My debating on what to try next was stopped when I noticed Keith reaching for Shiro's pants. "Guys!" I yelled in panic, to which Shiro and Keith jumped apart. Shiro looked as red as a tomato while Keith looked irritated beyond belief. Maybe I should have just left them and told the others they wouldn't be coming?

"Lance!" Shiro shouted. "How long have you been standing there?!"

I gulped, "Not long."

"God, I finally get to kiss my boyfriend again and we get interrupted not even ten minutes in." Keith huffed, "Did you need something?"

"Oh yeah, um, dinner's ready. The others sent me to get you." I explained weakly.

Keith laid his head on Shiro's chest, taking a deep breath. "Do we have to go?"

Shiro rubbed his back simpathicly "It's kinda one of my rules that we eat together as a team. If I skip then the others will skip then it's impossible to make sure everyone's taking care of themselves and actually eating."

Keith groaned and slowly got up, putting on a pair of glasses I've never seen. Since when did Keith wear glasses?

As they passed me I asked, "So how long have you two been together?"

"About three years?" Keith answered in thought.

"Oh, I always thought you guys were more like brothers than lovers."

Keith stared at me. "You are aware I'm not Keith, right? Kate informed me that she explained everything to you."

Everything came to a halt. Right, Keith has DID! This isn't Keith! Keith's still single! Wait, why does that matter?

My face must have showed this because Not-Keith laughed, "Oh my god, you thought I was Keith!"

Shiro laughed, "Just because they know about the DID doesn't mean they can automatically tell everyone apart. It takes time to become a master like me, Hon."

"Yeah, but I figured he'd assume that you weren't kissing a kid that's like a brother to you!"

"Well it's not my fault you guys share a body!" I squawked.

Non-Keith laughed, "Whoa, I didn't mean to upset you, Lance. Really it's alright I shouldn't have assumed. It's not easy to tell Alters apart, it's understandable you got confused. I'm sorry, sometimes I just like to forget the body doesn't look like me."

"Um, it's okay, Dude."

"I'm Adam." He smiled, holding out a hand to me, which I shook. "You'll know it's me cause I can't keep my hands off my baby." And to punctuate this statement he slapped Shiro's ass. Shiro's face was priceless.

That's when I decided I liked Adam, even if it was weird watching the body I knew as Keith kiss Shiro.


End file.
